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Malcolm misses out on Glasgow, but Moore makes the team

GWENT sprinter Christian Malcolm was left to ponder his future in the sport after left out of Wales’ athletics team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, but there was joy for Newport’s Mica Moore after she did get the nod.

Olympian Malcolm, 35, from Newport, who took 200m bronze at the last Commonwealth gathering in Delhi four years ago, failed to make the qualifying time in Sunday’s Welsh trials. Any hopes of his being a discretionary selection were dashed with today’s team announcement.

The only Gwent representative in the team is Newport’s Moore, 21, who is named in the 4x100m relay squad.

Malcolm’s rise to become one of Wales’ greatest sprinters began way back in 1998 when he took 100m and 200m golds at the World Junior Championships. In the same year he won 200m silver at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in a time of 20.29, which was a European Junior and Welsh senior record.

He went on to win 200m silver at the European Championships in Barcelona in 2010 and also boasts 4x100m relay bronze medals from the World Championships in 2005 and 2007.

For Mica Moore, however, Glasgow represents a first shot at the big time.

The former Bassaleg School pupil has been competing at elite level since she was 14, specializing in 60m indoors and 100m and 200m outdoors.

She now competes for Cardiff and Cardiff Met and regularly represents Wales at international level.

In 2011 she represented Great Britain Juniors in Germany and at the European Junior Championships in Estonia as part of the 4x100m relay team .

Moore, who is coached by her father Lawrence, is a multiple Welsh champion at age group and senior levels in 60m, 100m and 200m and has also won medals at UK level.

She has won the Welsh Schools Championships at 100m and represented Welsh Schools at the Schools Olympics on two occasions.

But last year she stepped it up a gear, becoming the Welsh senior 60m champion in Cardiff in January and winning silver in the 60m at the British University Championships last month in a new personal best time of 7.66 seconds to be ranked number one in Wales as an under-23 athlete and fifth in the UK.

The Birchfield Harriers / Cardiff Met University runner is among a great crop of young Welsh women sprinters who have made their mark this year.

In conjunction with Hannah Thomas, Hannah Brier and Rachel Johncock she helped to lower the Welsh 4 x 100 relay record to 45.17 sec in winning the Loughborough International in May – a time that moved the Welsh team into seventh place on the UK all-time ranking lists.

Coached by her father, Lawrence, she won silver in the 200 metres at the Welsh Championships (23.92 sec) and bronze in the 100 metres (11.82 sec).

Her time in the 200 metres was a PB and she is ranked on the Welsh all-time 100 metre list with a best time of 11.70 sec at Loughborough this year. This will be her first major Championship.

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